Forum (Spotlight Weekly)

National Sovereignty‚ People’s Pride:
Foreign Aid, A Universal Right

By Dr. Arjun Karki

Realizing the underlying aspiration and spirit of various stakeholders enshrined in the United Nations Charter and relevant instruments to direct unprejudiced international cooperation for just peace‚ democracy‚ human rights‚ and for economic‚ social and cultural protection and prosperity for the sake of good governance without distinction of race‚ sex‚ language‚ religious and place of origin;

Expressing full commitment to the protection and consolidation of pluralistic democratic polity restored through the 1990 popular movement and to upholding the inherent sovereignty of the citizens in natural resources realizing that the right to development is the indivisible fundamental right of the people;

Bearing in mind the fact that foreign aid in Nepal has acted as an instrument of control‚ domination and exploitation by undermining local capacity and ownership of development process for sustainable development‚ and that unjust loan and trade agreements have hindered the process of sustainable development;

Reaffirming that democracy and representative governance and the rule of law form a cornerstone for the realization of social justice‚ gender equality‚ just peace and national sovereignty in order to ensure general public’s access to national development.

We‚ the 400-plus delegates of Nepal Civil Society Forum for NDF-2004 assembled in Kathmandu from May 3-4‚ 2004 from all 75 districts representing various walks of life including women‚ youths‚ children‚ dalits ‚ the disabled‚ minorities‚ the indigenous peoples‚ nationalities‚ non-governmental and community-based organizations‚ media‚ health personnel‚ legal practitioners‚ workers‚ peasants‚ consumers‚ cultural groups and other professional groups with the main theme “National Sovereignty‚ People’s Pride: Foreign Aid A Universal Right”‚ and in an effort to amplify people’s aspiration to guarantee just peace‚ equality and sustainable development‚ have jointly promulgated this Kathmandu Declaration as a commitment of the civil society on development and foreign aid.

1. Collective Mission of Civil Society Forum:

1.1 We are convinced that the past fifty years of debt-driven foreign assistance in Nepal has proved to be a failure from the sustainable development perspective. We are firm on our stand that it is vital to fundamentally reorient international development assistance with pro-poor and pro-rural strategies in order to put an end to the use of foreign aid in non-pro-people programs.

1.2 Foreign aid has failed to address the continuation of social injustice‚ class and gender discrimination‚ unequal distribution of means and resources and corrupt governance. We are gravely concerned towards the fact that the faulty implementation of foreign assistance has contributed to further marginalization of the disadvantaged sections of the society.

2.2 We vehemently oppose the national and international experimental development policies that have reinforced derailed governance‚ economic stagnation‚ growing poverty and environmental degradation‚ and to bring about further sufferings‚ exploitation and violent conflicts on women‚ children‚ dalits‚ nationalities‚ indigenous peoples‚ the disabled‚ the Terai people and disadvantaged communities who have been systematically ignored and denied development for decades.

2. We appeal to the international donor community:

2.1 To pursue an international aid in keeping in view the notion of “All Human Rights for All” with a focus on pro-poor and pro-rural balanced development approaches targeted for the disadvantaged sections‚ dalits‚ indigenous peoples‚ nationalities and the Terai people.

2.2 To express commitment to reverse the failed conventional approach of foreign development aid and reorient foreign aid aimed to charter long-term policies to attain sustainable peace, uplift the citizens’ quality of life and create an atmosphere conducive to sustainable development without loans and assistance.

2.3 To adopt necessary progressive measures to ensure community-based people’s participation in every stage from planning to implementation of national and international development policies.

2.4 To mobilize development assistance to address the root causes of conflict for a lasting peace by immediately bringing to an end the military assistance supposedly provided for the mitigation of internal conflict in the name of humanitarian assistance as it is further likely to intensify the conflict.

2.5 To lay down peace and security‚ good governance‚ guarantee of corruption-free governance‚ protection of whistleblowers‚ right to information and public auditing as mandatory pre-conditions while making available foreign aid to Nepal in coming days.

2.6 To demonstrate immediate returns and long-term impacts of the investment to ensure transparency and accountability on the part of foreign donor agencies.

2.7 To implement programs through Nepalese governmental and non-governmental agencies rather than through the donors' own formal institutional set-ups.

3. We appeal to His Majesty’s Government:

3.1 To immediately establish a representative government that enjoys the full support from all political parties and the civil society.

3.2 To call an unconditional ceasefire as peace dialogue is indispensable for the resolution of the ongoing violent conflict and immediately embark on peace initiatives through UN mediation.

3.3 To create an atmosphere conducive to putting an end to the grave violation of human rights since armed conflict, non-adherence to international humanitarian laws, absence of a popularly elected government and denial of fundamental right of peoples to self-determination are the prime factors to result in such a devastating scenario in the present governance set-up.

3.4 To ensure geographical‚ gender‚ dalit‚ nationalities‚ the disabled and class representation in institutional decision-making processes relating to development in conformity with the spirit of the UN Declaration on the Right to Development.

3.5 To act in compliance with the 25-point commitment on human rights and humanitarian laws issued by His Majesty’s Government and invite the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal.

3.6 To express commitment to cut back on the whopping amount being spent from national treasury on military build-up and plough back this amount including foreign loans and grants received for nation-building into basic social sectors such as education‚ health‚ drinking water‚ nutrition and employment.

3.7 To exhaust all possible measures to ensure leadership of women from all strata of life in peace-building and conflict transformation processes.

3.8 To stop without delay the pernicious act of compromise with the private sector under the pretext of privatization of public enterprises motivated by vested-interest‚ liberalization and market economy.

3.9 To ratify the 2003 UN Anti-Corruption Convention adopted in Mexico and the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and formulate appropriate national laws to counter the problem of rampant impunity including the non-implementation of the Mallik Commission.

3.10 To work out effective and transparent pro-people strategies in view of adverse effects of privatization‚ liberalization and globalization by promulgating a blue print on accession to the World Trade Organization.

3.11 To build a constitutional‚ legal and administrative framework and effectively implement it to end social anomalies including existing untouchability‚ gender inequality and religious discrimination.

(The article is excerpts of the Civic Declaration by the Nepal Civil Society Development Forum 2004 released on the eve of NDF. Dr. Karki is the co-ordinator of the forum)